White Knight
by ColdWintersNight
Summary: In which Hans DOES kiss Anna with a true loves kiss, but…
1. True Love

In which Hans DOES kiss Anna with a true loves kiss, but… (Cross posted from /works/1086067 for those of you who like AoO)

Anna was literally freezing over right before his eyes as the prince of the Southern Isles placed the shivering princess on the nearby boudoir as everyone rushed out of the room. The lit roaring fire was only an arm's length away and yet it didn't seem to faze Anna in the slightest when Hans placed her down. Hans could only assume how cold Anna must have been from running all over the snow covered mountains, but as he looked closer he saw beautiful tiny patterns of ice and snowflakes crawling up her pale and slender neck, her face being drained of all warmth and color.

"What happened?" He demanded, shocked at the unholy magic he was witnessing and concerned for Anna's condition, taking one of her delicately small hands into his own. Even through his gloved fingers, the bite of cold struck him. It felt for a moment that his own arm had gone numb. Hans may have been a proper prince with all his teachings and vast schoolings, of course, but he knew very little about magic, and even less about black magic and its properties. All he could do was sit by young princess' side and watch uselessly as Anna's teeth clattered so furiously he feared she would shatter them before she could tell him what just occurred.

"Elsa," she stammered out, even in the warm room, the whips of her frozen breath seeped out her blue lips. "Sh-she struck me."

Already worried, Hans' grew even more panicked. "You said she would never hurt you!" He didn't mean to raise his voice at the frightened and shivering girl below him, as Anna had the strength to flitch at his sudden barking tone, but he trusted her to go out in the mountains in the dead of night by herself because she knew that her sister would never lay a hand on her…on purpose.

Anna feebly shook her head, trying to swallow spit that wasn't there, and her body trembled twice as harshly. "I- I was wrong. Ah!" She clutched near her heart, and doubled over. Hans pulled her closer. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders, offering what little warmth he could, it was a pathetic attempt really, when all he had to offer her was his thin fancy dress jacket and nothing more. She was so cold it was starting to feel like a slow frost bite creeping over his own body, but Hans tried to ignore it and ran his hands up and down her arms. It didn't seem to help, it only seemed to agitate the girl.

Anna pulled away from him, looking up. Her own eyes looked like they were frosting over, but her tears of pain and fear helped keep the ice from freezing over them completely. Whatever was happening to her, it certainly looked like a very painful way to slowly die. What a powerful curse her sister placed on her, accident or not.

"She froze my heart." She admitted, forcing herself to keep going. "Only a- a tru-true a-a-act. Act. Of love c-cc-c-can save me…"

It was amazing that such a dark fate could be all turned around with something as simple and so…fairy tale-like, a kiss. Well, at least that was the conclusion Hans came to. Like the all the stories his wet nurses and nannies alike read to him when he was a boy, it was always a kiss and a fight with a dragon that saved the princess.

"A true loves kiss?" Hans asked. So that was why she was so desperate to have him kiss her when she came home. Anna, almost half frozen and half dead now, the spell rapidly turning every strand of her lovely bright red hair into a dull white, still had the strength to perk up at the suggestion. She leaned up on her elbows, she winced when they both heard the cracks and creaks of the ice breaking were her skinny arms bent, and it was at that moment she was ready to be saved by her one and only true love. Hans only took a moment to see how this would all fall perfectly into step with his plans, as he dramatically caressed Anna's frozen face with his hand, and leaned in to place his warm rosy lips on her blue frozen ones. He would save the dying princess and be a hero in the eyes of everyone on this alone, if he already wasn't while he was helping the freezing villagers and taking command. Anna would just fall deeper in love with him for it and that would be the one and only reason for her to stand up to Elsa if she did allow the marriage again. Saying no to the prince of an allied country the second time, who not only took charge when the Queen herself seemed to have thrown a little hissy fit, abandoning the kingdom, but he also went out into the wilderness to find Anna and to top it all off, he saved ELSA from being murdered by the Weaselton's backstabbing guards. Everything seemed to be unfolding nicely at Hans' feet. It was all almost too perfect. Even better, Hans thought as Anna slowly closed her eyes, the small corners of her mouth lifting up, still trying to live out the romance of the dire situation, Anna herself just said that her own sister, who she swore would never harm her, almost killed her in her lack of focus. Nobody would want a madly emotional and black art wielding Queen. Everyone would have thought Queen Elsa had gone mad with her dangerous powers. Ordering her execution would come easy to Hans, perhaps he wouldn't even have to. After all, it seemed to him Elsa would run away to never return, purely out of the shame and guilt for almost killing her lone family member AND dooming the whole country to winter. Yes, he would order her to bring back summer, banish her, and rule with Anna as his loyal and beloved Queen.

It was a soft kiss, both filled with joy and fear, the only sound filling the grand room was the crackling of the fire. He may have only met her a few hours ago, and they had so many chances to share a simple kiss, but with both their nobility (and even more so with Anna's own extreme nativity and innocents), all he wanted to do since running into her with his horse was to see how those fair lips of hers would feel on his own. It certainly was different this morning, while Anna was flushed from running around the kingdom for the first time in decades, her make-up was perfect and ready for the grand coronation that was to take place. Hans thought back fondly how it looked like she must have been eating chocolate covered strawberries all morning in order to have gotten that sheen of red on them. Now there was no softness, no sweet smell and no pleasure being had as Hans leaned back, holding Anna's chin and they both waited to see her magically thaw out and have the curse be broken.

Anna looked pleased enough, if it wasn't for the ice covering her cheeks, Hans was certain she would have been blushing like a nun who just had an impure thought. The fire crackled on, and it soon started to flicker out as the cold from Anna spread into the room. A moment passed as she looked at her hands, and as quick as an eye blink, the ice hardened completely and incased her hand completely.

"What's happening! It didn't work? But, b-but!" Anna shrieked out. Her fear of death all too clearly consuming her, literally, as she lay in what may be her coffin. Hans' eyes darted around from the blue crystalized hand to the rest of her. It seemed the curse wasn't spreading quickly, but it was still spreading. The kiss did nothing.

"Let me try again." Hans urged and tiled Anna's face again. She quickly nodded, "Yes, yes, oh please hurry." And again, their lips connected. Hans' pushed harder against her, his other hand griped her tiny waist, and again the cold hit him hard as he touched her. She pulled him closer when her shaking arms encircled his broad shoulders, the golden strands she brushed on his dress jacket frosted over with fresh snow. This time when Hans leaned back to breath in some air, hopeless tears slid down Anna's face, freezing half way done. She didn't feel any magic or any warmer.

"Well," She chocked out, fully crying now. "At least I'll di-die in the arms of man who l-l-likes me enough." Anna sobbed and arched her back in pain, teeth gnashing to keep from screaming. The ice traveled up her arm and solidified up to her shoulder. Hans frowned deeply and pulled her into his lap, he didn't know what else to do besides rock her at this point. His nannies did that for him when he had an incredibly high fever. Hans shushed her softly, brushed her hair out of her face, and then grimaced when Anna's ice cold body temperature penetrated through his lap where she sat. For one selfish moment, he wondered if it would be possible for Anna to accidently kill him in this whole process as a byproduct. Isn't this how men froze to death in the history books he read when they invaded countries that were in mid-winter? It didn't matter how fit they were, but if you are ill prepared to handle the brute force of sub-zero temperatures, Mother Nature would always win over the frail flesh.

"No, Anna, no, I DO love you. I don't understand. I-" Hans hissed, unable to control himself, when he felt a sharp jab of pain in his leg joints. He truly was freezing up alongside with her. Wouldn't that be a beautiful song they will sing when they find the prince and princess frozen to death in each other's embrace. No, that won't do. That would not line up with Hans' plans to rule at all.

Anna feeble pushed against his silver buttoned chest with her unfrozen hand, and turned away from him. Hans' grip wasn't as firm as he thought, frozen limbs play tricks on the mind after all, and Anna tumbled to the ground, crawling towards the fire desperately. Hans stood, went down on his knees and places his gloved hands on her shoulders. The frozen shoulder wasn't as cold as he suspected it to be. It was just normal, ordinary ice now, after all.

"Let go of m-me Hans. Leave me to f-f-freeze. I deserve this." Hans gently turned her over, the warm light of the fire falling on her face. "I'm the one that pu-pushed Elsa. I just wanted," She hiccupped, a new sob bubbling out her. "I just wanted to be free to leave the castle….meet people, maybe make some friends that we-weren't servants….find love" Anna casted an unhappy side glance at the saddened prince. Her sorrowful look overwhelmed him.

"….maybe taste chocolate from the village…I asked for too much." She turned her face away from him, yet her hand held onto his jacket's coat tail she managed to grab onto. So this was what dying was like when nobody loved you. How did all of this happen? How did they suddenly go from a magical warm night of dancing, laughing, flirting after drinking a few flutes of champagne, to slowly being frozen to death while Hans looked on helplessly. How did true love work? Hans tried to recall every fairy tale he had ever heard or laid eyes upon or any bard's song that uttered "love". There had to be an answer within the thousands of tales he knew. But as he recalled the stories, they all ended the same way; with a kiss. Had he truly not loved her? It was hard to say, Hans had never been truly in love himself. But neither had Anna. Surely their two innocent souls were drawn to each other so closely because that WAS love, was it not? Hans finely trimmed eyebrows gathered together as a string of thoughts came together. Hans would wager his newly acclaimed kingdom that Anna was pure in both her heart and soul. Still a blooming rose that hadn't been tampered with. Hans may have not been one of the absolute favorite of his 12 brothers, but that didn't mean there weren't nights were he and the other 3 youngest would venture to brothels undercover while their King Father was looking the other way. Hans remembered his first time, how could he forget, when Tresissa, one of the loveliest French whores at the Crimson Diamond, made him laugh harder than he had ever in his life when she tripped on her many skirts whole dancing , and landed face first in his lap. He blushed of course like the young prince and boy that he was. His brothers laughed and urged him on with tall frothing beers in their hands. "Look Hans! She likes you!" They toasted to him as Tresissa looked up at him, smiling and smoothing back a black strand of hair behind her ear.

"Oui! It is, as we French say, fate! It must be love, oui?" She had such a heavy accent that Hans only caught two very important words- fate and love. Hans blinked down at Anna and could just barely see her breathing. They were running out of time. If this worked he would be a hero and she would live, if it didn't, well, at least he could give her one last experience any romantic-at-heart- girl deserved to share at least once...

"Anna," he cupped her face again, and turned her to face him again. "My dearest Anna, do you trust me?" She stared at him, a glazed over dead stare. She mumbled out a simple yes, she didn't really have a choice, did she? Hans nodded, stood and tried to pull her closer to the fire. She jolted, afraid that he was going to throw her into the inferno, try and melt away the ice that way. After placing her as close as he could, he walked briskly over to the window to pull the curtains closed, casting the room into darkness and came back to stand before her. She looked up at him and saw for the first time just how intimidating the Prince of the Southern Isles looked from this angle. The fire's light made his green eyes shimmer, that kind face that sang to her sweetly was tangled in worry and determination. He noticed her stare and smiled kindly back. She saw just how tall and fit he was, a great big shadow filled the whole room behind him. Anna watched as he dropped one arm and slipped it out of his jacket and in one fluid motion the jacket was off and he placed it neatly on the boudoir behind him. He kneeled down in front of her, one knee between her frozen knees and the other by her hip.

"Hans?" She asked and he leaned in again to kiss her. A deeper kiss than that of the "curse breaker", more full and Anna grew concerned. He pulled back, this time she was the one gasping for air, even though it hurt to do so, her cold lungs breathing in the colder air. "It won't work!" She yelled out sadly, defeated.

"I know. We're going to try something a little different, alright? Don't be scared Anna." He bit the tip of his glove and pulled it off easily and threw it on his coat. "There are many forms of love Anna. Do you understand?" She didn't. She knitted her brows together and watched as Hans' ungloved hand hovered down her skirt, and then suddenly slid up it.

"Hans!" Anna was beside herself and forgot that she was dying of an ice witch's curse. All she could focus on, or even try to believe, was Hans' very warm, VERY WARM, hand fiddling around with…whatever it was he was fiddling under her dress. Hans' other hand pushed her leg out of the way and held her knee. His ungloved hand pulled down her frilly bloomers carefully, and cupped the prize he was seeking out. Anna threw back her head to the side, her working hand pushed Hans' shoulder weakly. Hans began to shush her over and over, cooing at her, as he palmed her lower lips in soothing circles. Anna suddenly felt a small twinge of heat blossom somewhere from below. It was an incredible sensation of having her outer body slowly becoming an icicle and yet having heat washed over her in waves at the same time. Anna wasn't sure any more if it was worth it, maybe if she just gave in and let her heart freeze over, it would be over quickly that way. But this, this felt like she was going to get torn apart and still end up dying. Why would Hans put her through this?

Hans then pulled her bloomers down all the way to her thighs and slipped them off one slender leg. Hans again bit the tip of his other glove and smiled up at his soon to-be-queen. She would give him fantastic looking children, that much was true, as she stared down at help wide eyes, panting, crying, every emotion being poured out of the poor girl. "It's alright Anna. It's alright." Hans unlatched her cloak's clasp and pulled it away from her, the frozen piece of cloth broke into two pieces when he tossed it aside. He reached around her back and started to untie the endless laces of her corset, while his fingers started to part soft warm flesh and tease a slit that he took note was becoming wet to the touch.

"Hans, I can't-" Hans kissed her again, pressing himself and her into the ground. She accidently opened her mouth, and Hans flooded it with his tongue. She arched into him unwillingly, and Hans could swear he could feel the cold reseeding as he ran his tongue over the back of soft mouth. If anything, his warmth was finally having some effect to her. Her lips were slowly becoming softer, thawing out but still blue, but there was hope in seeing the ice was melting into the kiss.

Hans' smile was one of relief. She wasn't painful to the touch any longer and she was becoming flushed, thank the Gods. Hans was amazed this was working…He nipped her neck and then finally her corset gave way, became lax, and he unwrapped the black velvet from her. A few buttons on her blouse were undone, Hans was surely impressed with himself how he managed to do all of this with one hand, and she was free. What an adorable squeak Anna produced when her small breasts were bare before her prince. It was an incredible sight to behold. Not Anna's body per say, Hans had seen many women before, but it was the strange beauty of the curse that had painted itself all over her. Swirls of delicate frost whips encircled her tiny bosom, half of her torso looked like the warm summer day sky, with a shiny sheen that the fire reflected. Hans gingerly placed his hand on her stomach and bit his lip at the sudden rush of cold. No matter, he would soon thaw out that piece of her as well. Anna looked over at her shoulder quickly and gasped as the ice was drawing itself back. Blue frozen ice was changing back to soft pink flesh.

"I told you Anna, I do love you." She said nothing. There was nothing to say. How would she had know that if a stupid little kiss didn't work, nothing in this whole world would have either. Hans slipped in one finger inside her warm walls while Anna stared at him in awe. Anna let out a serious of "ahs" and pathetic "oos", all which Hans allowed himself to grin at. He leaned down again and at the same time when he slide his tongue out to taste her puckered little nipple, he slide in a second finger. She twitched from side to side, his heavy weight on top of her and warm, all but consuming her. She slid her hands into his red locks and held on for dear life. It was when she pulled at his hair as he switched to her other nipple, that she realized both of her hands were unfrozen. The one that froze was slowly shifting it's color back from the black blue to her rightful warm tone and she could bend her digits carefully.

"I love you Hans." Anna blurted out suddenly as he suckled on her untouched breasts. The youngest prince of the Southern Isles had danced with her earlier this night, and now he has saved her life only hours later. The very life that was only moments ago sentenced to freeze into oblivion. Surely that was the very definition of true love. Hans echoed her back and when his third finger pushed its way in, Anna had to bit the back of her hand from drawing anyone's attention to the room. He teased her along, he supposed he would keep this light torcher up until he knew that at last of the dark colors in her flesh had disappeared. He spread her legs a little more, and lifted her up easily to rest on his own lap. She was such a tiny little thing, he thought, when they danced he could pick her up effortlessly and yet she somehow managed to travel up a mountain, horseless, all alone to find that ice witch sister of hers. Hans had to admire her for that, if only for her stubbornness.

Hans slipped his fingers in and out of her warmth over and over again, he watched her, peacefully even, as she heaved wreaked breath after wreaked breath. She whispered out his name once, and he cleared his throat, more so to himself, as he felt his own passion growing, his pants becoming tighter. A hand glided all over her, her thin legs, her flat stomach, her meek shoulders, his fingers ghosted over her throat and he rested it back onto her hip. He pulled his fingers free slowly, whipped the strings of fluid off to the side and began to untie his own draw strings to free himself. Unfortunately for Anna, although it seemed like she was almost in the clear and out of the winter cold woods, Hans had nothing else to slick himself up on her behalf, and hovered close to her, their noses brushing one another. She opened her tear filled eyes and gazed up at him. "Just relax Anna." They kissed again, Hans' hand found the side of her face again, softly holding her, his thumb glided across her checks to clear them of her tears. It was a quick movement, just a thrust of his hips upward, pulling Anna down to him and that was that. They both moaned into each other's mouths and before Hans could react, Anna bit his bottom lip a little too hard when he pushed into her. "Ah!" he quietly gasped out, followed by a simple chuckle. Anna leaned up, sitting herself fully onto Hans, and kissed the part she bit. She wrapped herself around him, her legs wrapped around his hips and she pulled herself into his shoulders. She was just so tired, the thawing of her heart and after such a long journey it left her beyond exhausted. And now all of this. Anna grew a little bolder herself and trailed a few pecks down his strong neck.

"Thank you for saving me Hans."

She couldn't see it, but Hans smiled, held the back of her head closer and bounced her effortlessly up and down in his lap. She moaned, as did he, and soon nothing else was heard but the fire burning on and their joined breaths. It was a soothing motion, slow and held back, as Hans glided Anna up and down on himself. Surprisingly it wasn't long when Anna pulled herself a little away, panting out the words "Too hot." Hans pulled her back close to him. "Good." He replayed. He wasn't going to allow the cold to get a second chance at claiming Anna again. He buried his face in her hair, breathing her in. Her calming air of fresh snow and sunlight was all that took for Hans to growl out once and spill himself into her unceremonially, very un-prince like he thought for a brief moment. He wasn't sure when Anna let herself go, but her own high pitched noise came out of her and her toes slowly curled in and then uncurled back out.

Holding her tight, Hans looked her over, pushing some of her hair out of her face. Even in the afterglow of this whole mess, Anna just looked tired. But alive and the deadly but beautiful snow patterns were no longer spiraling over her skin. There was no ice forming anywhere near her gentle hands or small chest, not one snow flake dangled off one eyelash.

"Are you alright? How do you feel Anna?" Hans asked her in the dark room, a whisper in her ear. He touched her heart when he asked and she placed her hands over his large one. Anna pulled back to face Hans, a lazy smile on his face. She pulled him into a tender kiss one more time, her hands roaming his soft hair, his high cheek bones, his nose, his warm neck, anything she could reach. She tried so hard not to cry again, but the tears flowed down regardless. She buried herself into his chest, whimpering "thanks yous" again and again. Hans shushed her and petted her hair, resting his chin on the top of her head.

"We'll have to fix your hair before the wedding." Hans stated after simply holding each other in the after math of it all. Anna stopped her crying. She sniffed, and let out a laugh.

"Yes." She said with joy in her voice as Hans wiped away her tears with the back of his hand again. "Yes we will."

Anna drifted into a deep sleep in Hans' lap rather quickly, the poor girl just couldn't stay awake a moment longer. The night finally taking its toll on her. Hans reached back behind him, grabbed his jacket and placed in on Anna's bear freckled shoulders. He gazed down at her and then stared down the fire. He had saved Anna, just like he was supposed to when he set out to find her earlier. He knew she was his chance to gain power, to truly establish a whole generation of his blood and regime, securely and safely. It just so happened that perhaps somewhere down the line (he didn't know why he was trying to fool himself. Even he felt that spark for her Anna the second he helped her stand up in that little boat his horse knocked her into) Anna became more than just a pawn in this and more of his partner. Everything was set and running its course as it was meant to be. He would deal with Elsa shortly, Anna would marry him without any hesitation (not that there was any in the first place, as he recalled), he would be granted the crown and power of Arendelle, and they would both live happy ever after, just like they were supposed to.

Hans would see to it.


	2. A Frozen Heart

"It's getting colder by the minute!" The Grand Duke of Weselton shirked to the other dignitaries in one of castle's extravagant dining halls. The candle light was fading fast, every wick in the city was burning out, casting the room slowly into darkness. The disappearing light of the setting sun caused for great alarm as the star took the last remaining heat away from the frozen kingdom. The cranky gentleman rubbed his matchstick thin arms in a pointless fashion to bring warmth into his old bones, as did the other men, and walked back and forth in endless circles trying to figure out what could be done. There were very few moments in his long life where throwing money at a bad situation didn't solve his problems, and this was one of them. And with no means of escape, the Duke of Weselton was starting to panic.

"If we don't figure something out soon, we'll all freeze to death!" They all knew this was true. The Arendelle council men didn't want to think about how many poor villagers must have frozen to death by now when they were caught off guard when the warm summer day suddenly buried the town in snow and the temperatures couldn't stop dropping even when it already was approaching zero.

The group of dignitaries muttered something to one another, but no ideas came to mind. What miracle would it take to bring back summer from the grips of the Ice Queen? The heavy wooden and embroider door burst open, and slammed itself into the wall. They all snapped their heads over to see a panting Hans with an unconscious Princess Anna in his arms.

"Prince Hans?" The Duke questioned when he saw through his frosted glasses just who was in his arms. All the men stood from their chairs and almost pushed over Hans when they were jolted into action when they saw their Princess.

"I need Arendelle's healers and mage clergy immediately. Take her." he passed Anna over to his own council men, the tall man in the green pressed dress jacket that traveled with him from The Southern Isles on their ship. "She needs warmth. She's passed out from the cold. I don't care what, a scolding bath if you have to, just get her awake and warm."

"Yes your highness." The council men with the slight French accent acknowledged, taking Anna in his arms and holding her and Han's jacket around her shoulders tightly. He ran down the hall, servants leading him to Anna's room in the upper section of the castle. Shouts and yells died down as orders were given, and Anna was carried away. Hans watched them go and turned back to the worried faces of the council.

"What happened!" The Duke prodded, landing a hand on Han's shoulder as he offered him a seat. The young Prince certainly did look tired and drained himself. How Hans was going to explain this little matter might have been tricky if they were facing any other circumstances, but as it were, the Duke and the others all saw the black magic Elsa could wield first hand at the coronation ball. It wasn't going to be hard to explain what he decided would be his next course of action.

"Queen Elsa…froze, Anna's heart." The men gasped, the Arendelle council men held the most hurt look. Perhaps he, like everyone, once thought that Elsa could never hurt Anna, and yet, it seemed that she was not only hurt, but almost dead. "I managed to save her however, just barely. I just pray she'll be alright." Hans shot a quick look up, it felt like he may have over acted his worry, but it seemed natural enough to those around him. They all nodded their concern for him, and he felt their empathy. Hans was worried, of course, but he was starting to worry more for the fact that he wasn't sure how to stop the winter. He already asked Elsa to stop it, as kindly as he could, and she just said she couldn't. He must have asked her too sweetly perhaps. Hans recalled that he should have been more forceful with Elsa in the dungeons, but he figured perhaps talking to the crazed witch calmly might have done the trick. Now it seemed he would have to take more severe action this time around. Much more severe.

"Her own sister." The Duke muttered, somehow unbelieving what he heard. Hans had to keep himself from rolling his eyes. He would have gladly killed some of his brothers out of boredom just a quickly had he been blessed with black magic. Strange, but Hans could only suppose sisters must have had a different way of thinking of each other…something Hans would have to ask Anna down the line. But for now, he had to focus on dealing with the other sister. Hans stood, chest puffed out and a cold look to his deceivingly kind face.

"With Anna and I still to be wed, and Anna currently unable to give out orders, I, Prince Hans and acting authority as stated by her highness herself, Princess Anna, I hereby give the order for Queen Elsa's execution under the royal crest of both Arendelle and the Southern Isles." Hans added, "She has committed treason, and almost murdered the Princess. With a heavy heart, this is my final decision."

The council all seemed to nod in agreement. Hans would pat himself on the back later for his sliver laced tongue. With his commanding voice and general look of royalty, it was easy to get people to do his bidding. Having grown up with 12 brothers, he had to fight tooth and nail to get things his way. It was almost silly how easy it was to trick these men into allowing him to order such a serious order, but when the element of magic is thrown into a dire situation, sometimes people throw logic out the window. Hans technically had no authority here in a country that wasn't his own, but with one royal heir almost murdered by the hand of the other one, who was also currently in chains, most people wouldn't know how to make heads or tails of it. It was once again all falling into place neatly for Hans. The Duke himself had absolutely no say here what-so-ever and yet he was nodding alongside the others as if he was giving his own consent to the execution.

What an old fool.

Hans marched with the guards down to the dungeons, noticing how much colder it became the closer they got to Elsa. One of the guards almost fell face first to the ground when he mis-stepped on the stones that were covered with a thick sheet of ice. They grabbed the heavy iron knobs of the cell door and when it wouldn't budge, it was clear that Elsa had frozen the door shut. Silly, Hans thought, she had nowhere else to go….unless. Hans ordered them to break down the door, and with all four guardsmen putting their backs into it, they started to break down the door. When it finally gave way, the splintering wood flying everywhere, Hans pushed his way through and suddenly became quit irked when the opposite wall of the cell had been broken through. The frozen harbor with the massive ships entombed in the ice lay out before them. Elsa nowhere to be seen among the chaos.

The young Prince glared out into the frozen ship yard and turned on his heel. He had no idea how strong Elsa's powers were, but he would face her down if he had to. She seemed to be almost Godlike with her curse. She had the power to create that snow monster, give it life even, the one Hans had to throw off the mountain cliff side. He even witnessed how with one hand she could control dangerously sharp icicles to stab a man in his eyes and throat, all while with the other hand push another man off a thousand foot drop buy simply moving a block of ice in his direction. Hans thought for a moment maybe he could somehow use her power to his advantage? It would indeed be a benefit to his power if he could control a raging snow queen. A secret weapon perhaps? Maybe he could even keep her locked up, think of something better than iron shackles that Elsa could not break out of so easily, and use her for war. If anyone dared rise up against him and his new found power, he could just unleash a frozen wasteland upon all enemy countries... Yes, that would be a sight wouldn't it?

How fantastic Hans would look in the history books. The 13th brother who captured the heart of a lovely princess, saved a country from a winter curse from a crazed ice which, raised up to be a powerful and respected King AND who controlled the power of the cursed Queen himself…well, it certainly did paint a pretty portrait, didn't it. But there was always that pesky little sister problem that could arise. Anna would somehow find out of course, not think it too kindly upon Hans using her sister like that and set her free. Setting Elsa free would threaten his position, as she would STILL be the rightful queen, king withstanding or not. Anna was kind, too kind for her own good. Hans could see his whole plan unraveling quickly if Anna would forgive Elsa for freezing her heart. Then Elsa would convince Anna to turn against him, and before he would know it, he would be dethroned and even beheaded himself. He wouldn't allow that to happen.

Hans dawned his winter rider coat again, strapped a heavy sword to his hip that was decorating a hallway, and walked out into the ocean itself to find Elsa. This madness would stop tonight. The second he stepped outside however, he regretted it. He was thankful the pitiful riding coat he had on, but he also knew what REAL winter cloths felt like that he owned, tucked away in chests back home. The huge fur coats that were lined with thick rabbit furs he had hunted for with some of his brothers in the real winter time. The massive parkas that nearly drowned you in warmth, the matching heavy boots and gloves, and even the fox skinned hats, all mocking him in his memory as he threw up his arm against the raging snow. It wasn't even snow at this point, but little knives swirling about him and cutting his cheeks and eyes.

Hans was blinded by the white fury, and he struggled against the winds as he pushed forward. Something tugged him right, and at first he thought it was 'fate' leading him to Elsa, but in reality it was the current of the wind that was pulling him. The harsh winds were going in a clock wise direction and he knew if he just kept following it, he would eventually hit the eye of the storm. He would walk right to Elsa. Low and behold, as he got closer to the frightened women, who also seemed to be fighting her own snow storm, the winds had not been as strong here and he could actually open his eyes all the way. Elsa, like a frightened deer, saw Han's figure approached her from the white out and turned sharply to keep running. Where she was running, Hans hadn't the slightest clue.

"Elsa!" He yelled over the howling winds. "You can't run from this!" He had enough of this. He was tired and cold and he was starting to become frozen again being so close to the ice queen while her power surged on. He was becoming angry that Elsa wasn't even trying to stop what she has started, but was just moping around like a little girl who was long overdue for a nap after playing around all day.

Sadly, she turned to him. She raised her arms, and for a moment Hans braced himself the best he could, waiting for the painful impact of a blast of ice power that she would aim at him.

"Just…just take of my sister." And then she turned again, walking aimlessly as the winds picked up again. It pushed Hans and yet she glided through it with ease. It was impossible to see an inch in front of him, but he pressed on.

"The one you nearly killed?" Hans shouted back. He had to get her attention one way or another. Elsa stopped, shoulders sagged and turned back to the prince, her mouth trying to form something, anything. "What?" She breathed out in a whisper. Hans heard her all too clearly.

"She came back from the mountain, nearly dead. She said you froze her heart!" Hans felt the wind lose some of its strength and Elsa heard his words, her large doe-like eyes wide with horror. Perfect, Hans had her full attention, and for what that was worth, that seemed to have calmed the ragging storm a bit. It was time to truly play at her heart strings and for Hans to see how poetic he could become on the spot.

"'Please stop my sister!'" Anna cried to me when she dragged her half frozen corpse from the mountain. All she wanted was for you to come home and forgive her for upsetting you, and look at what you did. If I hadn't had saved her, she would be as frozen as this ocean, lifeless in my arms."

Elsa's emotion ran freely over her face. She was so scared to be imprisoned that all she wanted to do was run and escape again into the wilderness. Now she was trying to understand that by her own hand, she almost snubbed out the only ray of light she's ever had in her life. A light that she always tried to avoid so that THIS wouldn't happen. Hans stepped closer and closer to her, one boot in front of the other, cautiously.

"She was hysterical. She said she had doomed the country to winter forever."

"No! No, it's not Anna! It's all my fau-"

"Yes," Hans cut her off harshly, "It IS your fault." Hans stopped shouting as the winds stopped completely as Elsa's mind raced, and he was finally right upon her. He grabbed her shoulders and gave her a good few shakes. "Look at what you're doing. Look! You have to stop this! If not for the people of Arendelle, then for Anna."

Elsa finally registered the feel of another person's hands on her and she looked up at the much taller Hans. Scanning his angry features, Elsa grew upset herself. She straightened herself to seem stronger in front of him, she was a queen after all.

"I want to see her. I want to see my sister." Hans closed his eyes and shook his head.

"Anna pleated with me to not to let you near her. Dying from a frozen heart the first time is terrifying enough, she's scared out of her mind you'll do it again." Elsa slumped his hands, wringing her own hands over and over. This was what she feared most, her sister becoming scared of her and her powers. She had every right to be now, didn't she? Elsa tried for 20 years to keep all of this under control, and the one night she thought she was free, she ended up making it worse. Cursing the city, and almost killing her own little sister.

"But-But I didn't mean t-"

Hans cut her off again. "Of course you didn't, and I believe you when you say you didn't want to cause THIS," he gestured to the collapsing ships around, their mighty masts falling off when the rotted wood couldn't support itself anymore. "either, but that just proves you can't control your power Elsa. Anna is terrified of you. Everyone is! How many children do you think you didn't mean to freeze to death in the midst of your tantrum!?"

Elsa looked like she had been struck in the gut and when Hans let go of her, she slumped to the ground. Her pale hand covered her mouth as a little sob came forth from her. Hans pushed on.

"Or the crops that were all destroyed in minutes. How many will starve now? If not tonight in the sub zero cold, but in the days to come? You can't feel it, can you? The cold? The cold you are so fond of? I was wrong Elsa, you're not turning _into _a monster. You always _were_ a monster. And you finally allowed Anna, for everyone, to see the Hell spawn that you are!"

This was the moment, Hans knew, as Elsa sobbed at his feet and as her frozen tears hit the frozen ocean below them. He reached for his broadsword to his hip, and in one swing, it would be all over. The witch would be dead, and with no power source for the winter to feed off, the cold would stop and the summer would return. Hans looked down at her brittle, exposed, skinny neck. It would be over extremely quick. The blood wouldn't even have time to spread as it would freeze in the cold air before it had a chance. Elsa's cries grew louder, her thoughts on her sister, surely, and Hans unsheathed the sword easily. The young queen cried and cried and never looked up as Hans' deafly rose his arm high into the air, the dangerous blade in position to be swung down in one fluid motion. Hans let his arm drop, he gritted his teeth, ready to feel the hit of steel on flesh.

The hit never made contact with flesh, but with solid ice. Hans' whole frame shook painfully, his arm trembling and his hand letting the sword drop to the ground. Or rather what was left of his sword. Pieces of his steel flew past his face, almost flaying off his own flesh, as the blade shattered into big pieces upon making contact with something incredibly hard. He clenched and unclenched his fingers and then looked down at what came between him and Elsa. It was Elsa herself, frozen solid in that beautiful blue ice that Hans saw forming over Anna's own flesh. In the middle of Elsa's hysterics, in the deepest of her despair, the Queen had frozen her own heart it seemed. A beautiful statue of a women on her knees, head bowed in shame, arms holding herself tightly, and her long gown spilled out over her legs. A master sculpture couldn't have imaged such a beautiful sight himself.

Hans looked onward at Elsa. Then to his shattered sword. Then back at Elsa…or what used to be Elsa. Hans saw a puff of air rise out of the frozen face that he couldn't see, and all was still. The wind didn't stir as its mistress fell, the snow didn't drizzle uncontrollably and the swirling sleet settled quietly on the ground, unbothered. It was completely silent. Hans puffed out his own breathing, and stood, puzzled and lost at the situation. Is this what Anna would have looked like? A figure incased in a clean looking blue stone with snow flacks that looked hand painted on? Hans reached down to touch the figure on top of the frozen hair with his glove and snatched his hand back the second he did. It wasn't like touching Anna, it felt …almost like bad karma. Not for the karma of almost beheading the young girl, but more like touching a forbidden relic that was had been cursed for hundreds of years.

He swallowed thickly, brought his gloved hand up to his face and gave it a close look over. Well his hand didn't look cursed, it wasn't freezing over like Anna's was, and yet he shook it quickly. Confronted with his new problem now, Hans picked up his sword's handle. The gold was scratched and one of the larger jewels that was displayed on it, fell off. He scoffed at it. A sword that must have been passed down in the family for how many generations and it couldn't let a little ice hit it without shattering. What a worthless piece of decoration.

In the deathly quiet in the middle of the frozen sea, it was impossible not to hear the thundering hooves and snorts of a fully grown buck reindeer charging forward out of the clearing mist. The events of today just kept building on top of one another and were becoming stranger and stranger still, Hans thought to himself as he looked up to see a huge reindeer carrying a large rider with him.

Alone on the ice, Hans watched a huge blond man jump off the bare back of his beast as he tried to catch his breath. It seemed like he was running somewhere. The man briskly ran up to Hans, who gripped the sword's handle tightly again. It may not be a complete sword any longer, but that didn't mean with his keen swordsmanship, that Hans wouldn't do some serious damage to this gutter rat, if the crazed blond man did something hostel.

It was then they made eye contact, the blond man looked slightly angry at first and then slightly confused. He must have been some woodsmen, from his tattered sweaters and boots, his strong built and of course his reindeer, who was by no means a proper horse. He looked around, looked back behind him, looked at the reindeer, and back to Hans. He saw the figure at Hans' feet and recognized that same flowing dress and over the shoulder braid as the sister that he and Anna went to go see. The queen.

"Elsa?" The stranger asked nobody in particular. Hans lifted a finely groomed eyebrow. A woodsmen he may have been, but perhaps he lived in Arendelle's village. He must have known what his Queen looked like, especially after having her portrait hung around the town square from today's coronation. Hans soon heard many pairs of boots from behind him and peered over his shoulder. The guards were coming up quickly.

"And you are?" Hans asked as if he was board. The other man snapped back to the moment and looked Hans up and down. A slim, hansom, regal looking man who's clearly never worked a day in his life. …who's last name must have been Of The Southern Isles. Dreamy eye color…

"Prince Hans." The large blond man answered back. Hans clearly looked agitated a bit when the man gathered himself and tried again. He didn't seem to be the brightest in the bunch, now did he.

"Kristoff. Um, Your Highness. I …I, um…Oh. OH! Anna! Did Anna get to you ok? Is she ok? Is she alright?"

It was Hans' turn to look this Kristoff up and down.

"And how do you know of the Princess? Who are you?"

Kristoff scratched the back of his head like the idiot he looked to be, and looked around on more time. He seemed to be disappointed. His reindeer made a loud screeching sound behind him and it dug at the ice below his hoof. "I helped Anna-"

"The Princess." Hans corrected the woodsmen.

"…Uh, right. Princess." Kristoff spat back rather rudely. He didn't like talking to people in general, and he was learning that he wasn't too found of talking to higher authority royalty either. "I helped her get up the mountain. I guided her to find her sister. I, uh, then, I brought her back here actually." He pointed with his mitten to the castle.

"Her heart was freezing over, but…I didn't think it would effect Elsa, er, The Queen. Wait!" Kristoff looked down at the frozen statue again. "If she's like this, is Anna…"

Hans half smiled at the other man. A smile Kristoff didn't seem to care to see again. He also didn't seem to care much for Anna's "true love."

"Princess Anna is fine. I thank you for bringing her back to me." The guards finally came to stand by Hans' side and they eyed Kristoff and his reindeer cautiously.

"Good. That's…good. What about the Queen? What happened? Is she alright, too? " One more time Kristoff looked around, behind him, at Elsa and then finally back at Hans. The guards came around Elsa's figure and started talking among themselves. They addressed Hans, "My Lord.", and awaited their next order. Hans threw down his sword's hilt, it made a noisily clash on the iced over ground and turned back to Kristoff.

"Nothing for you to be concerned with. Royal matters and such. Well, safe travels to you and your…friend. I will relay to the Princess that you came to see if she was alright. She is in good hands. Goodbye." Hans waved him off, one guard lowered a sharp spear down to get the point across that Kritfoff's time here was over. Kristoff took one of reindeer's huge antlers and circled him around, back from where they came from. The great animal let out a whined sound again and Kristoff pulled him a little harder away. When he was out of Prince Hans' ear shot, he looked at Sven sadly, and patted the beast's soft nose.

"I know, I know, the guy gives me creeps too. But…but I thought I heard Anna's voice. I thought she would be here…Gods, I'm so stupid. Sorry buddy, didn't mean to push you so hard to run for no reason. Heh."

Sven snorted and pushed his muzzle into Kristoff's chest. "I don't know what happened with Elsa either…but you heard Prince Sideburns. Royal matters."

Sven screeched out one more time. "I guess that doesn't concern us any more, huh? Anna- The Princess- is back where she belongs. And we need to go back where we belong too. Come on." Kristoff steadied his hands on Sevn's mighty shoulders and pulled himself up. They both rode away, away from the castle, away from Prince Hans, and away from Princess Anna.

Hans watched the stranger ride off until he was no longer in sight. What a strange fellow. The guards walked around Elsa's frozen state and asked what they should do. Hans looked back down at the witch. What to do indeed. It would be best to break the figure, right here and now. Carry out his plan like he wanted to. They could build a great fire in the woods and simply throw her in. Would she feel it? Could she unfreeze herself at any moments notice? What of Anna? Hans pursed his lips together, his thoughts coming back to Anna. He imaged in a few days, when she was fully back to normal that she would ask for Elsa. She would ask where she was, and if she wasn't home yet, then surely Anna would set out AGAIN to try and get her back. It would never end. Anna clearly loved her sister too much to simply let her go. How annoying.

Hans would be fine with lying to her for the rest of their lives, telling Anna that Elsa ran away far, far away (when he would actually break her into a million pieces), or even tell her that Elsa tried to kill HIM so he fought back valiantly, and he put an end to her madness. But then he would have to deal with a very depressed Queen Anna. Anna would turn into Elsa, in a slow transformation. First it would be simple sad mood swings over the loss of her kin, then full depression when she would think about her dead family, (Hans also didn't want her to be depressed if she was to have his children soon. No, that wouldn't do either.) Then sooner or later she would shut him out completely. As much as Hans wanted to be King, he wanted to be King with the Anna he fell in love with only a night ago. A bundle of smiles and energy, a girl full of life and wonder, joy and love. Not some husk of a mopping hag who cried over her stupid sister and how she failed to save her. Hmmm…maybe this once again was all in favor of Hans' plan. If he was to simply place Elsa in the castle, say, a wing all to herself, one where Anna could pop her head in every once in a while, but where Hans could also keep his eye on her, that would work out well for everyone. It would be almost like nothing had changed in Anna's life. Elsa would still keep to herself, but this time around, Anna would be free to make the rules herself as the new Queen. Surely that would bring her some happiness. Hans would not only tell Anna that Elsa, in a fit of crazy emotional rage, froze herself, but she could show her. Anna would never leave the castle in the middle of the night to search for her, and perhaps, even with some luck (which Hans was having a LOT of recently) Elsa would unfreeze after Hans would have already established himself as a fine ruler. Elsa then could just hand him the kingdom, as if she would have a say in it after Anna would have been Queen for many years, and she could go run freely in the woods like she's always wanted tom like some deranged forest spirit. Like some…restless child, to her hearts content.

That seemed to be the best route. Hans would be clear of an foul play or any blood on his hands. Besides…if Anna ever got out of hand, Hans would just simple start breaking away pieces of Elsa until Anna would settle back down. A Queen doesn't need all ten fingers to live a happy life after all, now does she?

"Bring her back, I suppose. Place her in one of the upper guest rooms for now. I will deal with…this whole mess soon. I need to first check on Princess Anna. And do be careful while transporting her. We wouldn't want to loss any pieces."

Hans left the puzzled guards to their task and turned back. He could feel the weather was at least not becoming any colder than it was right now. It would surely take time for the harbor to melt; fires would have to be placed around the whole city in order to force a thawing out. It was just comforting to know that Elsa wasn't going to make things any worse than they already were.

Trembling finally himself from the cold that fully got underneath his skin, Hans hoped that Anna would still be in a hot bath when he returned.


	3. Awake

It was such a beautiful and warm summer day that every single window in every single hall of every floor of the entire palace was open to let the perfect day flow through. The crisp air glided through every room almost as if a wind spirit was galloping on a mighty steed through the open glass portholes and racing through everyone's hair and billowing through heavy skirts and breathing new life into the castle's old stones. The gentle breeze even brought up all the smells and spices from the kitchens down below, filling every room with the cook's freshly baked pies and just made soups and meats for lunch.

Anna inhaled deeply as she always did when she knew lunch was about to served and always tried to guess what it was. Today smelled like chicken dumpling stew and apple pie on the side, and it smelled like Markus, the oldest of the bakers, had baked the pies today. Anna could tell; Markus was her favorite cook after all. He made the pies perfect every time. Just enough butter in the flaky crust and he used the red apples from outside the castle gardens, and when you bit into one of those, they had the heavenly satisfying crunch no other apple in the whole kingdom had. If she wasn't brought up to be a proper lady, she would have let the drool come down her lips just so everyone could see just how starved she was and how ready she was to chow down anything that was placed in front of her. Anna clasped her hands in front of her and "mmmmmed" happily as she practically skipped down the hall and into her room, her bright summer dress fluttering up and down with her bouncing self. She gave her heavy bedroom door a push with her little shoulder and ran up to the open window sill. If she stood on her tippy toes, and tilted her head back just enough, without falling over, she could just see over the window sill and out into the castle grounds and a little of what lay beyond it, the village. And there, as she stared out into the perfect day, she saw a few small figures running back and forth, and if she squinted even harder than she already was, she saw the blur of color the children were chasing around. A big red dog! They were all too far away to hear, but Anna knew they must have all been laughing joyfully and barking playfully as they all played together.

Anna turned, and like always, looked at her personal nanny, whom sat in a little rocking chair, needle and thread in her hands, by her bed, watching her sadly. Mary Ann was such a skinny old women, who never allowed Anna to eat more than one piece of chocolate at dinner, and who always fussed when Anna wouldn't let her pull up her braids into a neat and tidy little bun, smiled at her, bracing herself for the question that the little princess would ask. The old women was kind, but sadly, she was never one for breaking rules.

Anna clasped her hands again, but this time in a begging fashion and asked as sweetly, as nicely as she dared to sound, "Can I please go outside? Please? Please Marry Ann, please?" Marry Ann breathed in through her old wrinkled nose and turned back to her needle and thread. Anna lowered her hands already.

"I'm so sorry child, but you and I both know the answer to that, don't we? You can't go outside, His Majesty was very clear about that, wasn't he now?" Anna, not hearing her denied permission, ran over to Marry Ann, got down on her knees and placed her chin in her nanny's lap, her big green eyes already filling with tears, like they always did when she was always told "No." to go outside and play with the other children. Every. Time.

"You don't have to tell anyone! I'll be really quit about it, I promise. I won't make a sound! I'll be so –"

"Anna…"

"Quick about it too! You won't even know I'm gone! And if Father asks-"

"Anna."

"I'll just tell him that I was taking a nap and you won't get in trouble and then I can-"

"Anna! You stop this begging right now! It's not lady-like, and it certainly isn't Princess-like either, now is it?"

Anna started to cry, the tears flowing freely down her face, a sad sobbing. She ran back over to the window and peeked out again. The children still where there, the big red dog chasing one of them in circles and then switching to a new child it must have found more interesting to chase.

"Please!" Anna wailed, her little hands gripping the window sill tightly. "Please let me go outside! I just want to play with the others! Why do they get to go outside! Why! Please?!"

"Anna, child, you and your sister-"

"Elsa's in her room!" Anna yelled back, defiant little ten year old that she was, stomped a foot on the ground angrily. "She's always in her stupid room! This has nothing to do with her! I want to go outside, ME! She can stay in her stupid room forever if she wants! I want to go outside! I want to go outside!" Anna cried and cried and all Mary Ann did was stare at her little outburst and go back to her sowing. Anna saw red fury for being so ignored and not getting what she wanted.

"Well I'm going! You can't stop me! I can out run you, you're too old!" She turned tail, and ran down for the door. Mary Ann just shook her head and began to rock back and forth, her needle poking up and down through some pretty cloth. The door slammed itself so hard and fast, Anna screamed when her face almost collided with it, full force. The sound of the bang rang in her ears violently. Startled beyond words and utterly confused, she looked over her shoulder and her nanny was nowhere to be seen, only the rocking chair hauntingly swaying itself back and forth. The window glass panes did the same as the door and harshly slammed themselves shut, the glass rattling against the iron casing powerfully. The room grew cold and dark, the light and warm air dying out without warning, the floor quickly glazed over in a sheet of smooth ice. Anna screamed and turned back to the door, her tiny hands grabbing the door handle and frantically swinging it up and down uselessly, hoping the door would open and let her out in to the warm hallway. Her soft clothed little shoes slipped on the ice comically and she fell to her knees painfully, letting the handle slip through her hand. The door and window busted into dark and sharp icicles, sealing her in her room for good as snow started to drift out of nowhere uncontrollably. Anna started to scream and her little fists started to hit the iced over door. Wailing and sobbing she cried to no one,

"I'm sorry! I take it back! I won't ask to go out anymore! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I won't go outside! I'm sorry!"

Her frightened voice bounced off the ice forming on the walls and ceiling, falling on the hushed chocking silence of her room. The smooth ice forming rocks closing in on her faster and faster as they sprang to life at all the corners and clawed up all around her bed, toys, everything she owned and held dear. The snow began to fall more rapidly all around her. Her room was turning into her own personal winter death bed and outside the frosted window Anna could still see the broken sun rays shining and the echoes of children laughing and playing all around her. She trudged herself through the snow that was now at her knees and screamed for help, reaching for the window, banging on ice with both her palms.

"Mama!" She screamed. "Papa!" She yelled out hopelessly. She couldn't feel herself anymore as it became so cold Anna saw her own hands starting to turn to ice. "Elsa!" She even called for, and kept crying, even though all her tears were freezing themselves to her terrified face painfully.

"I won't ask anymore! I promise! I don't want to go outside anymore! I'll stay inside! I promise! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sor-" And then the window shattered into a million tiny crystals, danced around her and then fell away into nothingness. Anna felt the welcoming warmth of the outside and behind her she could feel the dangerous cold fading further away from her faster and faster with each passing second. Further and further she flew out the window and into the beautiful day before her. The sun touched her face gently, wrapped itself over her whole little body, hugged her safely. The breeze fluttered in her pig tails and around her little dress, the fabric sounding a like a dozen pair of bird's wings. Her tears melted away and she smiled as she saw the children with their big red dog, still running around and playing. It was the last thing she saw before she came closer and closer to the castle's finely cut grass and neatly placed cobble stones on the walkways. There was the peacefully and beautifully warm bright sun above her, and then there was nothing but horrifying and cold darkness below her when she hit the ground with a horrendous sound of silence.

Anna woke up gently from her nightmare, as she trained herself to do so over the past years. She did her best impression of an old barn owl and blinked her crusted and watering eyes slowly, as the hazy view of her room became recognizable once more. There wasn't a flailing of limps in tangled sheets, nor did she fall on the floor in the same manner she fell in her dream. There wasn't even a sudden jolt of strength that would have caused her to sit up straight in her bed, heart racing, leaving her to pant and gradually come back to the real world in the darkness of night. No, Anna knew that dream well, it had visited her more times than she cared to remember in her life, and now, the only thing that stuck her odd (if not just a tad freighting seeings how the dream JUST happened) was finding her old nanny, Mary Ann, sitting at her bed side when she turned her head after fully becoming awake. Here, in the real world, Mary Ann sat in a cushioned chair engrossed in a little white book in her lap that she was reading. She hadn't even noticed that Anna had awoken yet. Anna looked to the window and was relieved when she saw the sun was actually setting, the evening night sky soon to replace it. All playing children and their dogs would be in their homes and not running about the streets. A small sigh escaped Anna when she for sure knew she was fully out of her nightmare and all was well with the world.

Mary Ann rustled at her side, the old women somehow hearing Anna's breathing, called out to her when she saw her eyes wide awake and open.

"Your Ladyship! Anna my child, you're awake!" Mary Ann's bony bird-like fingers gently touched Anna's flushed face, feeling her cheeks, forehead and trailing down her hot neck. "Thank the Gods. You had me so worried, child. So worried…" She said more to herself in a whisper. The nanny closed her book, and moved closer to Anna. She spoke softly in the twilight and candle lit room, the fire place also alive with a crackling fire, Anna tried to meet her touch but found it almost impossible for her to move when she saw, and certainly felt, the seven heavily laced wool and goose feathered blankets. It was so hot in her room!

"Mary Ann" Anna said, but it came out more like "Mmmmaaaeeeee Nnnnn" when she realized just how dry her throat was. It was a desert dried up waste land in her mouth, and she couldn't even summon any spit to wet it. She flopped bonelessly back down into the bed, not having been lifted very far from it, and knitted her eyebrows together in frustration. Mary Ann poured some water out of a vase that was on her nightstand, into a clear glass, and then grabbed one, two, three, four blankets off Anna and threw them aside. She helped up the girl as much as she could with her frail old strength, and when propped up, she gave Anna the glass of water. Anna thought she was going to drink it down in one gulp, but found her moves sluggish and slow. She sipped it, and couldn't help herself when she moaned out in pleasure when the cool water swished around her mouth and slid down her dried up valley that was her throat. Mary Ann placed a hand on her brow one more time, and stood to turn and headed for the door. 

"I will inform His Majesty you are awake." She bowed her head a little as she slipped out the door and when she was gone, Anna kicked the other two blankets off of her. What where they all thinking!? It was the middle of summer and she didn't need blank-

"Elsa!" Anna shouted out, or rather spoke normally; she was in no condition to be shouting as the night's memories came rushing back to her all at once. Or at least what she thought she remembered what happened last night… She was in the mountains with …a man she met? A snow man…a living snowman…named Christian? And she ran after her sister into the snow mountains because…because why? There was a ball….yes! The ball! There was a ball and a prince. A prince who fell in love with her and…No wait, that wasn't last night , that was one of her books she's re-read a hundred times over. Anna placed her hand on her own forehead this time and rubbed it back and forth.

'Don't be stupid Anna. You're getting all mixed up. Ok. Time to think. Think! Think, what happened. Ok…ball. Yes, ball because coronation! There was a ball…aaaaaaaaaand….dirt? Yeah. Dirt. That's why Elsa ran away. I took one of her gloves and she freaked out because of the dirt in the ball room and I went to get her back and….something. Well, duh. SOMETHING had to happen. Something always happens but what was it. Why do I keep remembering a talking reindeer?" The headache that was starting to creep up on her was something awful. A stone being banged against a church bell is what it felt like inside her skull right now. She laid back down, drank some more water, and found herself looking into the fire's flames. Why WAS the fire on in her room? They didn't make the fire's burn in the castle unless it was snowing and winter. It felt like the sun itself was in her room right now and it was starting to make her dizzy. She would have to ask Elsa what the heck happened when Mary Ann returned with her.

'Oh I hope I didn't screw anything up too badly at Elsa's coronation. Maybe I fainted from all the chocolate and my bodice was laced up to tight and made a big fool of myself. Gods, I hope I didn't spill punch on the Queen or anything. Did I!? Or maybe I –" All of Anna's fussing in her head stopped when she heard the door handle turn and she looked up to see Mary Ann coming in again, Elsa must have been trailing behind. She probably was mad at Anna for whatever she did last night, she must have not be too keen on seeing Anna right now. Her blood pressure didn't need that right now, Anna guessed. Anna scooted herself to the edge of the bed and gripped it, ready to push herself up.

"Oh Elsa, I'm so, so, sooooo sorry for whatever I did last night. Whatever it was, I- Whoa!" The second Anna pushed herself forward off the bed to stand, her legs melted beneath her into water puddles and this time, like in her dream, she really was going to hit the floor, face first, in a big embarrassing crash to the floor in front of her sister and Queen. But when she was caught by two thick, strong arms that wrapped themselves around her tiny waist and scooped her up in against a wide and warm chest that clearly did not belong to Elsa, Anna looked up into the smiling face an incredibly handsome man with flaming red hair and a sprinkle of freckles across is finally chiseled nose and cheeks.

"Glad I caught you." He said quietly, a too sweet and deep whisper that flowed into Anna's ears like that of angles from Heaven. He placed her gently back onto the bed, and still gob smacked, she stared back at him, mouth open in a 'Oh.' A beautifully tall stranger, in a clean and pressed dark navy blue dress coat, gold medals hanging off his broad chest, above his heart with golden buttons and golden cords that swung from his star embroidered shoulder pads. The crown that sat on his red hair glittered against the fire place's light, the blue and red gems winked at Anna as she squinted at the crown, recalling her past…it was her father's crown on this man's head. The stranger grew concerned when Anna just stared at the crown not saying a word, her eyes scanning his face then the crown, then the medals, then the crown again.

"…Anna? Darling, are you alright? Anna? Can you hear me?" He asked, clearly worried, one of his glove covered hands cupped her cheek, the other swept back loose hair behind her ear. Anna tore her gaze away from her father's crown and looked down into green eyes that matched her own. What a beautiful stranger…that danced with her all night, raced with her in the halls without shoes, talked about their sibling and who asked her to marry him under a rushing water fall who's deep waters reflected the night sky with a full moon and brilliantly bright stars and who saved her from freezing to death when her heart was freezing over. Everything Elsa had done that night, returned to her in waves of unpleasant nausea; casting a freezing winter on the kingdom, running away and leaving Anna all alone, trying to convince her to come back and getting cursed in her heart and then rushing back home to her…true love…who loved her and saved her by melting her heart and breaking the curse.

Prince Hans.

Anna's now shaking hands placed themselves flatly against his chest and trailed themselves up. She traced his coat jacket lapels, her finger tips brushing his cords and outlining the gold medals and their striped hanging pieces of fabric. She breathed in sharply and found his neck and then she too was cupping his face in her small hands. Hans stared at her cautiously; he stole a peek from Mary Ann, who stood in the corner watching carefully too. Anna wordless pulled herself into Hans lap, which he wrapped his arms around her again and she curled up against him, tightly holding onto his upper arm. Mary Ann slipped out of the room and bowed. "Your Highness." She said meekly and Hans waved her off with his thanks.

"Hans." Anna said simply. Anna let tears drop from her eyes, for whatever reason that they were welling up, and Hans both wiped away her hears with the back of his own finger tips and placed a soothing hand on top her head.

"Shhhh. It's alright Anna, you're safe. You're alright." He smoothed her hair over and over, picked up a braid and placing one behind her, then the other, and hugged her close. "Everything is alright now." He said into the top of her head as she sunk deeper into him. Anna didn't sniff or breathe deeply as she cried, she just allowed the tears to fall over, and stain Hans' jacket. One tear caught a gold button and reflected itself like a little diamond. She pulled up and rubbed at her face a little too harshly.

"I don't know why I'm crying. I'm sorry." Hans smiled and tilted her chin up at him.

"You have nothing to be sorry for Anna." She smiled back at him for a long time. He looked so dashing in his new suite and that crown did seem to fit him nicely. She stared at the crown one last time before she jumped off him so quickly and back onto the bed it was like an electric shock went through her frame. The crown!?...Where was Elsa.

"Elsa!? Where's Elsa!? Did she really choose to stay in her stupid ice palace alone now!? What about the winter she cast? Are you king!? Is that my father's crown!? Elsa said she couldn't fix the winter, she said –"

Hans calmed down Anna's rambling questions as if he was calming down a spooked horse. He put his hands up and carefully reached out to her, his strong hands gripping her shoulders so she would focus on him.

"Anna, I'll explain everything after you rest. There's…hmm, there's a lot to go through." Anna wanted to hear more. She was rested well enough, thank-you-very-much.

"There can't be THAT much Hans. Just tell me what happened last night. Please!"

"Anna you really should-"

"TELL ME!"

Hans' soft smile seemed to have curled into a straight line of pity as he pursed his lips to the side. His eyes gleamed a little patronizing shine.

"Anna my dear, you've been unconscious for about a week now. You never cease to surprise me with all this strength you have right now."

A dull silence filled Anna's eardrums, a white noise that was starting to become unsettling. Her shoulders fell and suddenly she was tried again. How could she be tired if what he said was true, and she had been asleep for so many days.

"The curse took a heavy toll on you." Hans said sadly. There wasn't much room to sugar coat it, as much as he wanted to for her. After being saved from dying of the frozen heart, the curse may have been stopped, but the after effects caused the princess to slip into a coma-like state. She was still freezing to the touch once Hans let her go to the healers and shamans. They were all worthless old men, whacking reeds and weeds on Anna and shrugging their shoulders when she didn't stir. They tired different colored sands and smoke that had different hints of pine or fruit. Hans was becoming more and more agitated as the days went by and nobody had any answers. When Hans came looking for her after his ordeal with Elsa, he was lucky (or rather Anna was lucky) to be there when one of the old sages suggested to just get it over with by burying the poor girl and freeing her soul from her cursed body. Hans had one of the guards break the old man's nose for suggesting something so stupid (Not something Hans was willing to disclose to his Queen right now, or ever). But there was indeed little else to do. As the week stretched on, Hans ordered for Anna to be kept warm and watched over. He had some sages with very little magic knowledge to see if there was anything they could do, but they all said the same thing, she either wakes up, or she doesn't. Anna was placed in bed, wrapped up warmly and the castle grew anxious with each passing day and with each of her passing breaths.

As Anna lay peacefully in her bed, the servants all dotting over her as best they could, and Elsa's undisturbed frozen body being watched over by guards in a room far away from Anna, everyone looked to Hans, their savior and champion against the Ice Queen, for answers. His official-"unofficial"-coronation was quick. There was no grand ball or party like they had for Elsa of course. Just a quick reading of an old Latin book by some church figure head Hans remembered from Elsa's coronation, and that was it. Hans bent over as the old man placed the old King's shinning gold crown top his brow and proclaimed him King. The councilmen showed up as witnesses and some clapped, some were happy and some not seeming to care much (Hans being declared King had very little effect to anyone's trading routes, the Grand Duke of Weselton seemed to have the delusion that Hans would strike up some sort of deal with him…for no reason what- so- ever, and left a little sour when there was no increased profit in his pocket, but congratulated him still, in order to keep friendly boarders between them. The rest just nodded in approval and seemed to be fairly happy for the new young King).

A shiver that went down Hans spin when the cold gold metal touched his skin. A shiver that felt like…victory? Power? Delight? Satisfaction? No, it was all of that and so much more, all rolled up into a perfectly fitting and beautiful crown. His plan, even with some MAJOR and STRANGE hiccups, unfolded like he wanted, and for the first time in his life, literally, he got what HE wanted. What HE wanted alone. It wasn't a vote between 13 people. There wasn't one side who got this, and other side who got that, and a few that got this other thing. No, this was his and his alone for the first time in…forever. Hans almost cried that night when he stared at himself in the mirror, a halo of gold around soft locks of hair. A hero! That's what they all called him. Their new King! That's how they greeted him when they bowed in his direction. And he wasn't going to let anyone take it away from him. He didn't mind one ounce when he had to start making very big decisions very quickly on what was to be done with all of Elsa's snow and ice. He never imagined that he would have to deal with the after math of a magical curse, but none- the- less, he did what his Kingly duties needed of him. The days became warmer with each passing hour. Elsa may have been a powerful witch, but she was no match for Mother Nature. The summer sun had warmed the kingdom up and melted the snow every day, all day long. Even the nights were warm and within a few days the snow had vanished. Hans ordered fire pits to be placed anywhere the sun couldn't reach and to help speed along the thawing of the docking harbor, ice pickers and harvesters were hired from the mountains to dig the wooden hulls of the ships free from the ice. When Hans scared Elsa with the death toll of her people, there were sadly deaths, yes, but only a few. A lovely couple who were out hiking about in the trails in the forests, who must have been out for a little fun in the summer flower fields, too far from the village and completely unprepared for the sudden sub-zero temperature drop and snow fall, froze to death trying to find their way back in their thin fabric pants and low cut shirts. There was an old women who's heart just couldn't take either the weather change or the magic behind it, and dropped dead. And the most devastating one of all was the family of five children who were all out for a swim in a small pound in the woods. Three children became trapped under the ice when they were having a diving contest, and the two children whose heads where above the water, froze to death before help could arrive in an attempt to dig them out.

It was an incredibly mournful day for all, but as King, Hans made a speech that seemed to have tied everyone over. Hans never had a chance to be in charge of anything and he wasn't sure if he was just that amazing of a public speaker, or people in Arendelle were really this stupid, but he saw everyone, like sheep, accept his words and they all welcomed him as their new ruler…with a sleeping Anna by his side of course. He spoke pretty words of fate, how he was brought here to find love and fight off evil. He spoke highly of his rich blue blood and that everyone was very lucky to have such a fine prince as himself be their king, without sounding too pompous. He spoke as he did with Anna when they first met, all the write words and the right time, with a smile of understanding and kind eyes. It was easy to appear so charming, when everyone wanted you to be. He smiled, mourned for the dead, gave whatever the people needed of him, and in a very short time, all seemed to be back to normal. Hans even promised there would be a new coronation celebration when Princess Anna, now the Queen, would wake. Some asked if Queen Elsa was truly dead, and he promised them that she would never harm anyone again. There was cheers and life went on for the people of Arendelle once more.

Hans sent a letter to his own Father and brothers with so much good news he didn't even know how to say it all. He told them that they would have to travel to HIS kingdom soon if they wanted to hear all of it, he would tell them all in person about his heroics and show off his new crown and his beautiful Queen. Once he could only dream about his brother's faces when they seethe with jealously at his crown and new power. Not even the first born, the oldest son, even had a crown yet. Their father was still alive and kicking, and now only Hans shared the jeweled golden ring with him. Him alone. It was a fantastic feeling. For the first time, a week full of first times it seemed, he couldn't wait to actually see his family.

And it was all thanks to Anna. Anna who still sat in shock on the bed. Hans scooted closer to her, and draped an arm over her shoulders kindly. "It's a lot to take in Anna, I can only imagine. We'll take it slow and talk about it all tomorrow." He kissed her forehead. "But rest assured everything is fi-"

"Where's Elsa." Anna wasn't asking, she was demanding to know. Hans breathed out loudly from his nose. So stubborn. A little white lie would hold her over for now.

"She's home Anna, were she belongs." Hans could physically feel her relax under his arm at the answer as she let go of all the tension she built up in case he was going to deliver some terrible news about her. She placed a hand on her heart and rolled her head dramatic, gasping out.

"Phew! I knew she wouldn't shut herself out like that. I knew she wouldn't stay up there in that stupid ice palace of hers. I knew it!" Anna beamed just like she had when they sat on the roof tops of the castle and counted the stars while sipping champagne… Hans beamed back and stood. Anna was too quick for him, and got on her knees on the bed. Her nose pushed into his chest buttons as she hugged him. She was still so much shorter than him.

Hans bent down slightly and started showering Anna's face with gentle kisses. His own nose nuzzling her in her ticklish spots at her hair line and behind her ear. One of his large hands slipped and cupped one of her breasts a little and roamed down to her stomach and back up over her shoulders. Exploring her lightly. She blushed despite herself, and felt warm on the inside. She was starting to feel dizzy because of other reasons than the heat in her room. He may have had her already once, but it was rushed, with life and death on the line, urgent and over too quickly. And on top of all that, she couldn't even bask in the glory of it as she fell into a deep sleep.

"I've missed you." Hans simply said. And truthfully he did. He remembered how he once thought about killing both of the sisters and being the King by himself for as long as he could before he would have been forced to find a Queen and an heir. This was better. This was much better as Anna ran her hands up and down his back as he fondled her lightly.

He was the one to pull away from her. Hans had a hunch the desperate girl who wanted human contact so badly her whole life wouldn't be the first one to be breaking up their make out sessions in the future.

"I- heh, I missed you too?" She didn't know why she formed it as a question. She felt stupid that she did and Hans just chuckled at her.

"Perhaps you would like dinner to be sent up and I will join you in bed?" Anna's whole face turned red at his bold statement. But Hans just laughed again, kissed the top of her red hair and turned to leave. "For dinner silly. But I suppose if you are thinking of other activities, I will have to leave room to eat something else tonight for dessert."

Hans left and Anna almost passed out from the head rush. Dissolving into a fit of giggles and hugging her pillow close to her, she screamed in glee into the satin. Hans was right, everything truly is alright. She met "The One", Elsa was safe and where she belonged, she was going to have her happy ending it seemed, just like all her books dictated after finding her true love. Everything was alright.

Anna just felt a little curious as to why the one odd thing she kept recalling of that night was a talking reindeer.

I would like to REALLY thank all those who take the two seconds to write a review. It's like crack, man.. But yeah, here ya go. I would have updated sooner, but pfft, silly Holidays!

Hope everyone had a good one! Good luck in the New Year! I hope you all find your True Love...and that's they are not two faced murders. 3


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